


Welcome Home

by schakerin



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Patch 5.3: Reflections in Crystal, Patch 5.3: Reflections in Crystal Spoilers, Squenix Give Me A Happy Ending For My Boy Challenge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:42:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25918285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schakerin/pseuds/schakerin
Summary: BIG 5.3 spoilers!!!This is That Scene with my Lala WoL Matmia Mia.(Will make a better summary when 2 weeks is up, will more accurately update tags when 2 weeks is up)
Relationships: G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch/Original Character(s), G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch/Warrior of Light
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	1. Would You Believe Me?

**Author's Note:**

> This is Mia's in-game canon, not in the kidfic AU  
> Not beta read bc 🤷🏾

“If I were to tell you that this isn’t the end—that we will meet again—would you believe me?” the Exarch had asked, cradled in Mia’s arms. He had never wanted to lie to her, she knew this. But there, in her embrace, he grew so cold. He was so cold. Her mind could barely process anything past the sound of creaking stone and her own heart breaking. It was everything to keep from sobbing into his chest, but… a smile better suits a hero. She looked into his eyes, gaze flicking between them, and felt herself nod.

If he had said anything after that, she could not recall. The cracking of the Exarch’s skin as he rose under his own power to his feet once more was deafening. Mia watched him, committing every detail to memory, and filling in the gaps where he was already crystal. Every freckle that dotted his skin. The hair at the base of his ears that would stick up no matter how he tried to smooth it down. His canines, slightly sharper than her own, that made his smirks extra devilish.

He smiled at her and turned his eyes to the distance. And then it was done.

Mia let out a choked, quiet wail and stumbled to her feet, grasping his auracite vessel like a lifeline. _Gods_ , she hoped it would be.

She threw herself at the Exarch’s solid form and clung to his waist, weak legs refusing to stand firm--squeezed him so tight she thought she might cut herself on his robes. His crystallized arm and chest had never felt so solid and lifeless beneath her touch.

He was so cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but it felt better to split them
> 
> I just LOVE how the Exarch asks this in the English (idk about other languages) bc he's given the WoL reason to doubt him 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 God there's just so much under the surface!!! If only I had the energy to pick it all apart!!!


	2. Shepherd to the Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Exarch goes for a ride.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally forgot the achievement title was "Shepherd to the Stars" lmao but I'm glad the chapter title wrote itself akl;sjdlf;
> 
> I wasn't just about to leave yall with some 200-something word little chapter, I just felt like they should be split between POVs :V

The Exarch stood at attention, heartbeat painfully pounding in his ears. For all that he wanted the last thing he saw to be his inspiration, kneeling still in the place they had fallen, unshed tears in her eyes and a shaky smile on her lips, he stood firm and looked ahead. Oh, how he longed to have the expression of pure joy she had worn only days prior be his last sight. He felt his heart stutter, then that too began to crystallize.

 _Oh, Mia,_ he thought at the last, ever one for dramatics, _my guiding light, my dearest star, I have no intention to deceive you. I pray to any god who will listen, please do not make a liar of me this day._

And then he thought no more.

However, his soul didn’t travel back to its place in the Lifestream.

It called to him, and its pull was strong, certainly, but he felt what could only be described as a compulsion to ignore it. He was instead drawn to a familiar sense of self that his soul recognized instinctually. He traveled from one vessel to another and found himself trapped, but he knew, somewhere within him, told perhaps by the Self sitting just barely outside his aetherial reach, that this was where he was supposed to be. And that’s where he stayed, waiting serenely for something he couldn’t quite grasp.

The concept of time isn’t something inherent to the soul, so the events that his soul experienced were fleeting sensations that felt forever and incredibly brief at once. He could feel the aetheric differences in the area around him, but he couldn’t be certain for sure where he was being taken. That is, if he could grasp onto those thoughts in the first place, each one only half formed before it slipped through his fingers like fine sand.

He came into contact with other souls, their forms sometimes brighter, sometimes more dim. He felt the impression of their emotions on him, the way the shape of their souls fluctuated with happiness, sorrow, relief. His own remained static inside the vessel, waiting.

Through this he was ever accompanied by the brightest soul of all. As other souls came and went, it was ever beside him. The shape and color and _feeling_ of other souls were reflected in the one by his side, and he felt the waves of it touch his own soul like ripples on the water’s surface.

Then, suddenly, surrounded by the brightest souls he had perceived on his short, endless journey, he felt the soul by his side wrap around him in a gentle embrace. Were he able to describe the sensation, he would have called it _safe_. He felt safe, like this was exactly where he was supposed to be. Like this is where he was meant to exist.

For a moment, he sensed the Lifestream was near, but its pull could never disentangle him nor his other spiritual companions from their course, overwhelmingly warm as their shepherd was. The souls that had traveled with him left his side and drew into separate vessels. He felt them grow and stretch and move with emotion before he was taken away again.

He sensed aether momentarily press against his vessel, gently probing. As it withdrew he noticed the soul beside him gleam bright. He felt the Self beside him yearn to bask in it for an eternity. He felt much the same, and his soul responded in kind, reaching out ever so slightly to nudge the one beside him.

At that moment, he could feel an outside force grab hold of him and his Self beside him. His soul strained to stay beside the bright, comforting presence, but his Self was quickly drained from the vessel they shared, and he felt his soul dragged out through the vacuum it left behind.

Then he found himself dreaming, thoughts no longer only sensations passing through him. He could think again, could feel the distant beat of his heart. He stood in darkness not unlike when one closes their eyes, but there was no maliciousness in it. He took a deep breath in and savored it.

Muted footsteps sounded from behind him and a voice not unlike his own addressed him. “What is this? What are you doing here?”

He turned and saw a shade of himself staring back, form fuzzy in the way that dreams tend to be. He knew the other, younger him didn’t expect a response, the memories were there, and they were his. He reached out to his shade at the same time the shade reached out to him. He felt acceptance when they touched. He was himself whole once more.

Distantly, he could feel movement, the edges of his dreamscape fading.

He smiled. “Do you hear her, G’raha Tia? This is no time for sleeping.”

He could feel her, kneeling before him, one hand resting on his cheek. He groaned slightly in discomfort and took a deep breath.

He was so cold, but her hand was so, so warm. On instinct he reached his hand for hers and held it in place. He cracked his eyes open for a moment, found them heavy and bleary with sleep, and quickly closed them again.

"Welcome home,” Mia said, voice thick.

He said her name in return before drifting off once more.


End file.
